Picture this: An online music service where music plays instantly without downloading time, song information is always accurate, files are always of good quality and personal music libraries can be pulled up on any computer.
Does it sound too good to be true? Maybe not -- it's Rhapsody, the largest legitimate online music service. There is one caveat -- the service costs $10 a month, plus a per-track fee to burn songs to compact discs.
As record companies campaign to stop unauthorized distribution of copyrighted music, they are relying on a growing number of for-pay online music services to turn the tables on networks that allow illegal file-sharing by providing better services that consumers are willing to purchase.
The Recording Industry Association of America said the alternatives currently available should be enough to keep people away from illegal file-sharing services.
"There's a whole host of exciting options," RIAA Spokesperson Jonathan Lamy said. "In our minds, there's no excuse for people to steal music illegally when they have so many legitimate alternatives."
Others say legal online music services still have work to do in order to attract customers. Rhapsody offers 25,000 albums, but the selection is limited by artists, such as the Dave Matthews Band and Puff Daddy, that do not give permission for their work to be included.
Independent music also will suffer if for-pay programs grow in popularity, according to the Webmasters Alliance, a firm that represents online radio services. It contends that the RIAA is stifling independent music, both in the arena of online radio and through its support of services such as Rhapsody, which provides music only from record labels.
"The bottom line is that they're trying to take every single source of independent music and choke it off," Webmasters Alliance President Ann Gabriel said. "They want to promote their own member-level music."
Despite difficulties in drawing people to paid services they can receive elsewhere for free, the file-swapping phenomenon has sufficiently changed the media landscape so that record companies must find a way to adapt, Computer Science Prof. Alfred Weaver said.
"It becomes a question of economics," Weaver said. "Prices are falling. Record publishers are understandably worried. The question is -- can they price this art in a new and realistic way?"
It will take several years for a price tag on online music to stabilize, Weaver estimated.
In the meantime, recording industry executives are working on other alternatives, particularly for college students, according to Lamy.
"Colleges are where the online piracy problem is the worst," Lamy said. "Students have more time than money, and they have ready access to high-speed Internet."
Higher education administrators and entertainment executives formed a committee over a year ago to address illegal file-sharing on university campuses.
"Downloading music or motion pictures can interfere with normal educational activities," said Shelton Steinbach, general counsel for the American Council on Education and a member of the committee.
In its search for alternatives, the committee is exploring the possibility of providing students free or reduced-price music through university networks, with the price hidden in student activity fees.
University officials said they worry about diverted staff time and have remained cautious about the idea.
"It needs to be discussed more," said Shirley Payne, ITC director for security coordination and internal relations. "We really are hoping that companies like Microsoft and Apple will jump in and fill the gap."
That is what Rhapsody and other legal music services -- such as Press Play and Apple iTunes -- are trying to do.
"It may be hard to imagine, but the fees charged by these services are going to seem worth it," Rhapsody's lead product manager Evan Krasts said.
Legal music services rapidly are improving, working to provide music from all artists and expand to different media, Krasts said.
Still, Rhapsody only has subscribers in the tens of thousands, as compared to Kazaa's millions of users.
Third-year College student Pete Croft said for-pay music services will never be able to count him as a subscriber.
"There's always another way to get music," Croft said.
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